Realore has ported the popular time management game All My Gods that topped the charts on Big Fish Games and GameHouse to iPhone and iPad. The game mixes sim building gameplay with certain time management element to bring us a structured city building and civilization advancement title. It's enjoyable, frantic at times, but all in all, it's a well-mannered game with a balanced AI.

Gameplay

Roman god Saturn is retiring and his son is to take his place. But to become a god, the son has to learn how to build a prosperous territory and earn the respect from other gods. So begins the journey of starting anew on a fresh land to build an empire. All My Gods offers at least 12 hours of gameplay. You start out, like every other god, at the bank of the Tiber where the citadels of the earliest Romans built. You start out with fishing shack and worker's huts, and soon you can build taverns, barns, schools and more. The game has a well-paced AI that guides your every step. Other gods will appear and tell you what to do next in forms of suggestions or demands. The gameplay follows the sim building convention with upgrade trees and technology studies. It's important that you learn which buildings provides for more population, upgrade points and material limits so that you can grow your empire as needed.

While the AI provides very good instructions in the beginning of the game, the gameplay does get hectic once your city has grown into certain size. Then the game adds a bit of time management element by way of two gods, Mars and Hera, demanding for money or they'll damage the buildings in your city or set them on fire. This pushes you to sell your inventory and mine gold as fast as you can. The game offers plenty of trading options: you can sell the goods yourself via the in-game menu; when you build a trading post, your traders will travel to far places on camel backs to trade good; and when you build a port, your trading boat will visit new ports to trade goods. And you will need to get money fast as both gods demand more and more gold.

The advancements unlock buildings as you study them, and there are a fair number of things to study. Buildings can only upgrade three levels but you can build more to add speed of what they produce and generate. In addition to functional buildings, the game offers world wonders at the end when you unlock all the advancements of your civilization.

Graphics & Sound

The graphics look sharp and colorful in All My Gods HD. The layout is logical and the game usually won't let you build anywhere your buildings will be blocked, with the exception of roads. Some buildings can only be built at certain locations and the large wonders get their own private island. The buildings have sharp modeling and animation in the game runs smoothly.

All My Gods has background tracks that are very relaxing accompanying the gameplay. There are many sound effects and they're also well done. The game offers alert chimes and voice-overs. All in all, the game has a polished audio package.

Conclusion

All My Gods is a fun sim building game that leads you almost every step of the way. The game has well paced AI, the controls are easy to use and work smoothly, and graphics are eye-catching. The gameplay is meaty enough and has an interesting mix with time management element. The game adds a few new characters in the iOS version and inserts slide animation as cutscenes. The game also offers achievements and rewards but not Game Center support.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Graphics: -4.5- Sharp and colorful, looks good on the iPad Retina display.Sound: -4- Relaxing music and good sound effect with funny voice over.Controls: -5- Excellent controls, easy to use.Gameplay: -4.5- Fun and balanced gameplay. Structured sim building with element of time management.

Playing Hints and Tips:

During the stage when both Mars and Hera are hitting you up for money, it's actually cheaper to repair the damage they cause than giving them money. You can use your mana to put out the first Mars causes and it cost you nothing.